Two medical ideas

Friday

Aug 23, 2013 at 5:16 PM

Here is a fascinating article on the connection between the stomach and mental health. I was an anxious kid and gulped Rolaids by the dozen. Eventually, I developed an ulcer which, thanks to the then-recent introduction of ranitadine, healed within a year of diagnosis. From that point on, I have seldom had stomach problems, although I later fought a couple of month-long bouts of depression.

What I have always suspected is just what the article postulates: Stomach problems can create anxiety and mental stress, and not just the other way around. I have noticed when I have had temporary stomach upset due to illness or bad food that it immediately causes my mental state to tank. Getting the stomach in order can bring the mind around as well.

On the matter of heart disease, a world-renowned heart surgeon says in this article that the present cures are as bad as the disease. In particular, the excessive use of statins to lower cholesterol (he says 25% of the population is on them!) has done nothing to reduce heart disease.

Food for thought.

Here is a fascinating article on the connection between the stomach and mental health. I was an anxious kid and gulped Rolaids by the dozen. Eventually, I developed an ulcer which, thanks to the then-recent introduction of ranitadine, healed within a year of diagnosis. From that point on, I have seldom had stomach problems, although I later fought a couple of month-long bouts of depression.

What I have always suspected is just what the article postulates: Stomach problems can create anxiety and mental stress, and not just the other way around. I have noticed when I have had temporary stomach upset due to illness or bad food that it immediately causes my mental state to tank. Getting the stomach in order can bring the mind around as well.

On the matter of heart disease, a world-renowned heart surgeon says in this article that the present cures are as bad as the disease. In particular, the excessive use of statins to lower cholesterol (he says 25% of the population is on them!) has done nothing to reduce heart disease.